FAQ

What is SMITH?
SMITH Magazine launched on January 6, 2006, National Smith Day, as a home for storytelling of all forms and kinds, with a focus on personal narrative. Whether a professional or unpublished writer, we believe everyone has a story, and everyone should have a place to tell it. Our editorial is bottom up, aspirational, populist, and participatory. SMITH is our stories, our history, our friends, our moments, our lives. We believe everyone has a story. Everyone is a SMITH.

2. By submitting to editors, who both assign stories and accept stories over the transom. These stories can be found in our Obsessions section (which covers topics such as weird jobs, war, the ever-popular Beautiful Pregnant Women photo essay, and photo essays) and Memoirville (excerpts and interviews from published memoirists).

How do I find stories I’ve written?
First, make sure you’re logged in (if you’re logged in, you’ll see your name in the top right corner of the site.) All your stories are found in your profile. Once you click on a story, you’ll be taken to the specific Story Project (Six-Word Memoirs, Brushes With Fame, My Life So Far, etc.) where it lives on SMITH. Make sure you look under both the “featured” and “recent” tabs if you’re having trouble finding your story.

Do you pay for stories? And who owns the copyright to the stories I submit on SMITH?
We rarely pay for stories, and we share copyright with the author. By registering on SMITH, you agree to our Terms of service, which states:

If my Six-Word Memoir or other story is selected for a book, will I be notified?
Yes. We’ll send a note to the email you signed up to let you know you’re either a finalist or have been chosen to be in a book. All book contributors will receive a free copy of the book as soon as it’s published. Note: You must include your real name in your profile to be considered for a book. Your real name won’t be visible on SMITH, only to editors. We credit each memoirist by first and last name, and can only consider submissions for which we have this information.

I see you have all these different story projects. Can I suggest a story project?
Yes. The current slate of story projects are all topics we’ve found people respond to with wonderful personal stories.The plan is to grow the range of story projects over time. If you think you’ve got a topic with legs, and would potentially like to be that project’s editor, email us at news AT smithmag DOT com.

Do you plan on publishing a print version of SMITH?
We’d like to enable you to take SMITH to the beach and the bathroom, and one day you might. However, we’re currently focusing on SMITH online, as well as putting out books from the Six-Word Memoir project, our comics, and, in Fall 2011, a book based on The Moment project.

SMITH Magazine is a home for storytelling.
We believe everyone has a story, and everyone
should have a place to tell it.
We're the creators and home of the Six-Word Memoir® project.